1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a transferring apparatus by which articles, which are formed by cutting dough of pizza, bread, confectionery, or like food, into pieces of predetermined size, or by further processing pieces of such dough, can be transferred onto trays spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance, and more particularly, to an apparatus by which articles, which are formed into pieces of a predetermined shape and conveyed on a conveyor, can be transferred to accurate points on trays even when the interval between the articles is not uniform.
2. Description of Prior Art
An apparatus for conveying bread, confectionery or the like, which is formed into pieces of a predetermined shape by a shaping device or the like, by a conveyor, and for transferring the articles from that conveyor onto another conveyor, is disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,438 (patented on Feb. 8, 1983) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,024,945 (patented on May 24, 1977).
In the apparatus of the first-mentioned patent, a combination of a table with a plurality of slits, a vertically displaceable rotating shaft, and a plurality of flanges on the rotating shaft is positioned between a feed conveyor and a receiving conveyor, the flanges movable through the slits so that they can be above or below the slits, and soft objects irregularly conveyed on the feed conveyor are temporarily stopped by lowering the rotating flanges to a point below the slits and an object is then caused to be transferred to the receiving conveyor by elevating the flanges, thereby adjusting the intervals between objects transferred to the receiving conveyor. This apparatus is not suitable for transferring objects to a tray.
In the apparatus disclosed in the last-mentioned Patent, articles supplied from the shaping device, which articles keep a uniform and predetermined interval therebetween, are arrayed on a plate of a transferring device to keep a fixed interval therebetween, and the articles are then dropped to be transferred onto a tray or the like in a row parallel with the direction of the tray. Thus, although the transferring operation can be carried out accurately, the articles do not always land on the tray stably, and, in addition, to properly set the transfer timing is relatively difficult. Further, the transferring device is complex in construction, leading to high costs.
Also, especially when the use of a baking plate is required for baking these articles, the articles must be accurately placed in the recesses of a predetermined shape formed on the baking plate. In such a case, it is difficult for the aforementioned transferring device to accurately transfer the articles into the recesses of the baking plate.